Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Wrecker by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott

By Britt Hellman

"The Isaac Bell Novels" is a new hit series by "one of the greatest adventure novelists of our time" (imdb), Clive Cussler. The Wrecker is the sequel to the successful first Isaac Bell novel, titled The Chase. (The next release in the series is scheduled for June 1, 2010.)

The main character of the of this new Clive Cussler series is a detective by the name of Isaac Bell, a fearless figure of physical prowess equaling James Bond who simultaneously possesses observational skills and powers of deduction rivaling Sherlock Holmes.

As luck would have it, Isaac Bell is an independently wealthy heir of a major American banking family, his detective work more of a passion and obsession than a job-for-money.

In The Wrecker, the Southern Pacific Railroad hires the Van Dorn detective agency and Isaac Bell to capture a saboteur that has been targeting their construction sites with devastating effects. Southern Pacific's financing for a project to build a new line between the northern and southern portions of the American West coast is threatened. If any more sabotage ensues, it could potentially sink the entire mega-corporation.

Unbeknownst to all until the very end of the book, The Wrecker is a regular member of the inner circles of Southern Pacific Railroad president Osgood Hennessy, even courting the railroad baron's "unspeakably beautiful" daughter Lillian. He's a formidable adversary, perhaps as brilliant as Isaac Bell himself.

The Wrecker's agenda turns out to be the hostile takeover of not only the Southern Pacific Railroad but as a side effect gaining complete control of the entire United States railroad system, at a time in history when the wealthiest men in America were railroad barons such as Vanderbilt, Harriman and others.

Notorious as an avid automobile enthusiast, one reason why Clive Cussler may have picked the early 1900's as the setting for his new series may well have been to give him an opportunity to write about car chases in classic automobiles from the turn of the last century.

Automobiles featured in The Wrecker include a Packard Grey Wolf, the 1907 Model 35 Thomas Flyer, winner of the New York to Paris race of 1908, Isaac Bell's classic Locomobile, and a Bugatti Type 41 Royale.

Clive Cussler is a man of many passions, one of the best known and most obvious being his love of the ocean, as evidenced by his countless action novels revolving in and around water. But the fact that he has chosen to live in Colorado, far from the any great body of water, suggests that he also loves the rugged, arid and mountainous landscapes of the American West.

The Wrecker gives a glimpse into this other side of Cussler, his love of the mountains and the still-not-entirely-tamed American West, a contagious passion that is likely to rub off on a whole new generation of Wild West enthusiasts and reinvigorate many old ones. The new Isaac Bell series may well be Clive Cussler's best work yet. - 2361

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